Mustangs need to maintain focus

LAKE COUNTY -- Staying focused on the task at hand will be the job of the Middletown Mustangs tonight as they visit the Fort Bragg Timberwolves in a North Central League I game matching teams with identical league (2-0) and overall (4-1) records.

The urge to peek ahead on their schedule is why the Mustangs might be slightly distracted going into Fort Bragg. A week from tonight, Middletown hits the road again to play the St. Helena Saints, who take an undefeated record (5-0) into tonight's home game against the Lower Lake Trojans (0-5).

Keeping focus and avoiding distraction is where the Middletown coaching staff comes into play. Head coach Bill Foltmer said it shouldn't be a problem for his players ... they've been through this before many times down through the years.

"Fort Bragg is 2-0 league and 4-1 and we're playing them at their place, that should be enough to keep our focus on this game and not looking ahead to St. Helena," Foltmer said.

In addition to the Middletown-Fort Bragg and Lower Lake-St. Helena games tonight, the Kelseyville Knights (0-2, 2-3) look to end a two-game losing streak when they visit Cloverdale to take on the winless Eagles (0-5), and the Clear Lake Cardinals (1-1, 3-2) travel north to Willits to take on the Wolverines (1-1, 3-2).

Provided St. Helena isn't upset by Lower Lake, the winner of the Middletown-Fort Bragg game will remain in a tie with the Saints for the NCL I lead. If it's Middletown, that will set up a first-place showdown next week in St. Helena.

Fort Bragg was pushed to the limit a week ago by Lower Lake before winning 14-8. The Timberwolves grabbed a 14-0 lead in the first quarter and then had to hold on to beat the Trojans. Middletown is coming off a 28-0 win against a Willits team depleted by injuries but still tough enough to deny the Mustangs much on the ground. The Mustangs had to go up top to beat the Wolverines and quarterback Ben Pike delivered with four touchdown passes.

Fort Bragg quarterback Tyler Ashby and running back Zach Smith are the two players the Mustangs need to stop, according to Foltmer.

"If we play like we have in our last three games, I'm pretty confident we'll do well," Foltmer said.

Kelseyville at Cloverdale

The Knights put up a fight early on in their loss to St. Helena a week ago but were eventually worn down by the more talented and deeper Saints roster. Kelseyville running backs Robert McLean and Kevin Duty each had 102 yards and a touchdown in the loss, which bodes well for tonight's game given that the Eagles allowed 325 rushing yards a week ago in a 39-14 loss to Clear Lake.

While the Knights are still feeling the loss of starting quarterback John Mark Reagan, backup Jacob Martinez threw his first touchdown pass in the loss to the Saints.

Kelseyville lost a last-second 34-29 heartbreaker to Cloverdale a year ago, so the Knights are looking for a little payback this time around.

"We definitely owe 'em one," Ishihara said. "We'll try to get a little redemption from letting that one slip away last year."

Kelseyville will be without strong safety Jonathan Smith, who was injured during metal shop class this week.

Clear Lake at Willits

Clear Lake head coach Milo Meyer, a Willits graduate, would love nothing better than to put a little hurt on his alma mater tonight when the Cardinals visit Maize Field. They'll probably never have a better chance given that the Wolverines are one banged up bunch right now.

"They're probably not going to be in too good a mood," Meyer said of the Wolverines after their 28-0 loss a week ago in Middletown.

While running the ball is Clear Lake's primary strength on offense, the Cardinals are prepared to shift to a passing-dominated attack if the circumstances call for it. Middletown had little success running the ball between Willits' defensive tackles.

"We'll go with what we've had success with," Meyer said of the running game, "but we're prepared to throw it if we have to."

Clear Lake will be without wide receiver Zuhuri Manley (bruised liver) the rest of the month.

Lower Lake at St. Helena

It's a battle of opposite as the undefeated Saints, reigning NCL I champions, host the winless Trojans. St. Helena has pieced together a nice 14-game league winning streaking. In addition to their two league wins this year, they went 7-0 to win the NCL I last season, won the NCL I South with a 4-0 record in 2010, and won their final NCL I South game in 2009. Their last league loss was a 27-3 setback to Clear Lake on Nov. 6, 2009, at Lakeport.

The Trojans are coming off their best effort of the season against Timberwolves, a game in which they failed to score on two drives deep into Fort Bragg territory in the first half.

On the team's search for win No. 1 this season, Huffman said, "It's hard to stay positive but we're playing better each week."

Lower Lake will be without one its top lineman, Mike Warren, who is ineligible this week for disciplinary reasons. He is tied for the Lake County lead in sacks (four) and fumble recoveries (three).

Upper Lake at Emery

The Cougars shoot for a third straight league win Saturday in Emeryville. A week ago in a 72-24 thrashing of Stellar Prep, Upper Lake rushed for 436 yards and nine touchdowns, so the Spartans have their work cut out.

Emery's only two wins have come against an awful Elsie Allen club (0-6) and a decent Calistoga team (3-3).